SALT LAKE CITY – A 70-year-old woman shot and killed her former daughter-in-law in the parking lot of the preschool where the young teacher worked, Utah police said Saturday.

Mary Nance Hanson is accused of firing multiple shots into the car of Tetyana Nikitina, 34, as she prepared to leave Friday from the Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start school.

Police said the suspect called 911 and was waiting at the scene when officers arrived. When asked why she had fired the shots, she told a 911 dispatcher, "I don't know, and that's all I'm going to say."

Nikitina, a single mother of two, was behind the steering wheel when officers arrived. She was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

According to court records obtained by the Deseret News, Nikitina filed for divorce from Dale Jankowski in February 2005. Police say they believe Jankowski is Hanson's son.

Records show that twice after the divorce, in August 2005 and in January 2006, Nikitina filed for protective orders against Jankowski, claiming cohabitant abuse.

Unified Police Lt. Don Hutson told the Deseret News they can't identify a specific event that triggered the shooting. He said there were ongoing custody battles, "but that's nothing new."

Hanson, a concealed weapons permit holder, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of murder. She lives in Taylorsville, as did Nikitina.

Salt Lake Community Action Program Head Start is a federally funded, comprehensive early childhood development program serving low-income children between the ages of 3 and 5.

Nikitina had been with the school for five years as an assistant teacher.

Hutson said no children attend classes on Fridays, but teachers were there for training.

cdtx2001

01-30-2010, 4:41 PM

At least someone learned not to talk to the police.

How many people in the US have a CCW or are allowed to legally carry? I'm sure this incident will contribute a very small amount of statistical data to an already small number of people who committed murder and have a CCW. That is of course if it was murder and not justifiable homicide. Maybe the lady in the car was trying to run down the gun holder, or she was about to drive the car into a wall with the kids in the back seat and the old lady was trying to protect them from that??? Who knows, I wasn't there.

Knauga

01-30-2010, 8:20 PM

The fact that she deliberately went there to kill her former daughter in law and would have done so regardless of CCW will without a doubt be lost in the media.

gotgunz

01-30-2010, 11:59 PM

Except that the first story about it in the national press states clearly that she had a ccw.

What other purpose would that be printed other than to make the story more compelling? Besides how did they find out? Aren't ccw's private in Utah? Or did some reporter actually ask the question?

Colt-45

01-31-2010, 12:09 AM

:( this makes me sad.

AndrewMendez

01-31-2010, 12:19 AM

Utah is Shall Issue, as a matter a fact, I have one, and have never been to Utah! I dont think this is going to make a huge difference. At least she doesn't meet the "Crazy White Guy" standards.

battleship

01-31-2010, 12:39 AM

Mummy can you do me a really big favor, remember my X wife, well!

GrizzlyGuy

01-31-2010, 10:37 AM

Yup, the Brady Campaign is all over this story (http://blog.bradycampaign.org/?p=1717).

Anymore, incidents of so-called “law-abiding citizens” with state-issued permits to carry concealed weapons shooting and killing their fellow citizens are becoming so commonplace as to merit special mention only in particularly noteworthy examples.

And their snarky conclusion:

Just to be clear: the State of Utah just gave an accused killer — a so-called “law-abiding citizen” — permission to carry a revolver used in the shooting death of a Head Start teacher and single mother.

Apparently Utah thought that was good policy.

(Do you hear that? Yes, that’s the NRA’s deafening silence.)

oaklander

01-31-2010, 11:01 AM

The logical fallacy here is that the CCW somehow turned an otherwise innocent person into a murderer.

The same logic would mean that we should BAN all Catholic priests, since making someone a priest turns them into a pedophile.

phamkl

01-31-2010, 11:06 AM

What deafening silence? They don't allow comments to be posted. It's not like the NRA would release a statement about how this tragedy supports their position by showing the exception that proves the rule. Exploiting tragedies is terrible, in bad taste, andsimply immoral. Oh wait. Hah.

CitaDeL

01-31-2010, 11:10 AM

Yup, the Brady Campaign is all over this story (http://blog.bradycampaign.org/?p=1717).

And their snarky conclusion:

Just to be clear: the State of Utah just gave an accused killer — a so-called “law-abiding citizen” — permission to carry a revolver used in the shooting death of a Head Start teacher and single mother.

Apparently Utah thought that was good policy.

(Do you hear that? Yes, that’s the NRA’s deafening silence.)

My response to the Bradys...

Just to be clear: the governments of our respective communities give badges and guns to men and women entrusted to our protection, but that doesnt stop them from abusing their authority or commiting crimes after they have been sworn in as peace officers.

CALI-gula

01-31-2010, 11:11 AM

For every 1 rare story like this, there are about 500 like this one:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=259838

.

nick

01-31-2010, 11:26 AM

Hmm, I have a feeling that the story here might involve a biased family court doing illegal things, crooked government officials connected to the said court, the court accepting false statements by the ex-wife that contradict each other and the established facts in the case, and the family seeing that they'll get no recourse within the corrupt legal system. But I might just be projecting something else I've heard of onto this case just because it involves a Russian wife :)